A New Newleaf

Deidre dropped off our Newleaf yesterday. She did an amazing job on the sweater! I love the colours. The background is Le Petit Lambswool in Grey Beige and the colour work is Dyed in the Wool - Every Rose. The new colours of Le Petit Lambswool should be arriving on Monday and we will put together new combinations.

Here is a close up of the colours. When you look at a skein of Dyed in the Wool it looks like a mess of colours but you get stripes when you knit it.

This is Every Rose in a skein.

There are many, many finished Newleaf sweaters on Ravelry knit with Dyed in the Wool. If you want to see how a colour knits up in the sweater, enter the colour name in the search bar on my Ravelry link.

Zauberball Crazy is a great substitute for the colourwork if you don’t want to use Dyed in the Wool.

I was in the store early this morning and made up kits for Ric Rac. These are available online.

Ric Rac is a boomerang-shaped shawl that was designed for Local Yarn Shop Day 2022. It has swirls that look like ric rac, which was popular on kids clothing in the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

Casapinka’s LYS Day pattern is available for free with purchase of a combo.  The pattern will be released on LYS DAY April 30, 2022. With the purchase of the yarn you will receive a Ravelry download code.

These are just suggestions. I tried to make combinations close to the sample and a few more summery combinations. Pick any two skeins of fingering and make your own combination. Next Saturday (April 30th), purchase 2 skeins of hand dyed fingering weight in the store or online and we will give you the coupon code for the shawl pattern.

The garden is starting to bloom. 

Dad and Lucy have gone home, the hockey game is on and it’s time to knit. 

Maker’s Keep

Mr. FedEx dropped by today with a box from Cocoknits. The Maker’s Board did not arrive. They are about 2 weeks out. 

These are the Maker’s Keep.

One of the many advantages to knitting is that you can take it with you everywhere! And, in the process, lose little knitting notions everywhere! I wanted a way to truly contain all my knitting tools while traveling – so I came up with the Maker’s Keep magnetic bracelet. It is a slap-bracelet so it fits everyone (one size truly fits all here). You can wear it, or simply drop it in your knitting tool bag to keep all the tools together – or even unfurl it and push the magnet to one end to use it as a straight edge while reading down a pattern. 

In addition to knitting, I use mine for sewing (it’s great for holding pins!) and we have heard from customers who have used their MK for holding paper clips at work, hairpins (especially while doing hair for weddings!), nails and screws while working around the house, and even for fly fishing!

All Cocoknits accessories are magnetic and will stick to the Maker’s Keep.

We love Newleaf from Jennifer Steingass (pattern purchased on Ravelry). I wore mine today and it prompted us to make up new kits.

The website has been updated. With some changes that we made to the website we were able to put all the sizes on the same page. It’s much easier to purchase now. We hope to have more Le Petit Lambswool (the main colour) in the next few weeks and will be able to make more combinations.

My Inclinations Shawl is growing. I’m half way through the last two colours so I will finish over the weekend. We should receive more Malabrigo Rios on Monday and then I will put together a few more Rios combinations. The shawl is very soothing to knit. The stitch is easy but not boring. Working with yarn that changes colour is a bonus. You need to knit one more row to see what the next colour will look like.

Field Guide No. 15

The newest Field Guide from Modern Daily Knitting should be arriving tomorrow.

Modern lace. From the playful imagination of Jeanette Sloan come five patterns that let us explore the magical effects that come with simple lace techniques. The fun here is the variety of yarn weights and the gorgeous lace patterns—it all looks utterly fresh and clean

How often do you get to make a five-foot-long scarf with only 26 rows? Here we see what happens when we cast on 278 stitches, then settle into an angular tumbling blocks lace pattern. 

The amazing thing? When you’ve finished one repeat of the stitch pattern—26 rows of yarnovers and decreases—you’re done. 

Instructions are for two versions, one in light fingering weight yarn and one in aran weight yarn.

This looks like an interesting scarf to knit. I think it would look great in Tosh Vintage Elizabeth Taylor.

In typical Jeanette Sloan fashion, this shawl is full of surprises. She upends the idea of the traditional triangle shawl by eliminating the pointy part, creating a trapezoid shape that is easy to wear and eliminates the possibility of Jemima Puddle-Duck Shawl Syndrome, aka the shawl that points straight to your bum. 

Another construction surprise: the shawl is made from point to point, beginning with only four stitches. This allows us to get the hang of the rib lace pattern and the increases in small doses. By the time we arrive at the center panel, we’re ready to take on a new lace pattern—a geometric swath of tumbling blocks. 

Instructions are for two versions, one in light fingering weight yarn and one in aran weight yarn.

I finally added some kits for Newleaf with short sleeves to the website. Now I need to add more kits for the long sleeve version.

I was taking pictures and threw the extra skeins on the ground. I’m not sure why I snapped a picture of this combination but I liked it so I did it for a few more.

There hasn’t been much knitting in my world. Maybe tonight. I’m almost finished the 2nd ball of Hedgehog Merino DK for my Tweedy Shawl.

We do have some skeins of Tweedy left if you want to make the shawl like the original.

Dinner is finished and the Columbus-Tampa Bay hockey game is in the 4th overtime period. I need to go and watch. I’ve been watching since the puck dropped. Yes, we can watch the TV from the dining room table. Can’t everyone?? 😘

Newleaf

Wannietta finished another Passeggiata Wrap for me. This kit was Neutral Zone. We’re out of this colour but more kits are coming. We do have great colours ready to ship.

The wrap is stunning. Wannietta knit this one on a slightly bigger needle. She felt that her first one was a bit on the tight side.

Ms. UPS brought 3 huge boxes today. 

There are many colours of Tosh merino light and Unicorn Tails. I will get these on the website over the weekend.

There was also a box from Biches & Buches. These are new colours of Le Petit Silk & Mohair. They will be added to the website over the weekend as well.

The newest colour of Le Petit Lambswool is amazing! Meet Light Pink Violet - this has been added to the website. Can’t you see a Botanic Wrap knit with it? I put it with Crazy 2355 and Dyed in the Wool Neveruary B.

I am going to dream about a Newleaf in this combination.

We’ve all knit the sweater and I know I’d make it again. Lynn is talking about making it with long sleeves. I’m sure we could convince Sarah that she needs another one 😘

I have a few rows in me before bed. Two more boxes were delivered by Canpar this afternoon that I didn’t even open. I’ll be in the store for a while tomorrow.

A Newleaf Day

Mr. Canada Post dropped off a box this morning from Lynda. She finished Newleaf for the store. We used Le Petit Lambswool in Dark Blue Turquoise. The contrast is Dyed in the Wool Castaway. Thanks Lynda - the sweater looks great.

We have more Show & Tell. This is from Carolyn. She did an amazing job on her sweater!

HI Julie - here are a couple of pics of my finished New Leaf. I used Yarn Rehab donegal tweed and Spincycle Dyed in the wool. My only change to the pattern was to the bottom edges - I didn’t put the colour work on the sleeves and on both edges I knit one row/purl one row repeated. As a result, I only needed one skein of Spincycle. 

Because the yarn was a significant investment I was very careful to make sure my gauge was spot on. That carefulness paid off because it’s a perfect fit. I used helical knitting to alternate skeins. The Yarn Rehab donegal tweed was some of the nicest yarn I’ve knit with.  

Now, if I just had somewhere to wear this lovely sweater! :-)

Carolyn mentioned Helical knitting - no I don't know what that is. I quickly googled it but need to do more research. I'll share my findings over the next few days. Here is a link to an article from Mason-Dixon Knitting on Helical Stripes.

The Donegal Cottage Tweed Sock is a beautiful yarn. I'm knitting with it right now and highly recommend it.

Before leaving the store I took a few pictures of colour options for Newleaf. I went light and springy with the colours.

I started my shawl last night but didn't get very far. I thought I was going to knit this afternoon but housework got in the way. Now that the dinner dishes are done I'm going to knit for an hour before bed.